


Communicate

by xXdreameaterXx



Series: Arrows of Eros [12]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Communication Failure, F/M, First Kiss, Language Barrier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 02:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7386493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXdreameaterXx/pseuds/xXdreameaterXx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The TARDIS translation circuit is broken. The Doctor doesn't speak English. But there are three words that the two of them still understand perfectly despite their communication failure. Twelve & Clara.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Communicate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elloette](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elloette/gifts).



When Clara stepped into the TARDIS on another Wednesday afternoon she had expected it to be like any other Wednesday. Some talk about what they had both been up to, visiting a lovely planet that would turn out to be dangerous, running, some more running, maybe another planet followed by leisure time inside the space ship.  
“Take me somewhere nice!” Clara demanded instantly once the door has closed behind her. She dropped her bag and jacket on a chair and smiled at the Time Lord in front of her. He was wearing his ridiculous pyjama trousers again and Clara hated to admit that they were starting to grow on her. “You know you look like an overgrown kid in those, right?”  
When the Doctor opened his mouth however all that came out sounded like complete gibberish. Clara frowned at him.  
“Sorry, I didn't catch that,” she said as she stepped closer, thinking her ears might be damaged after listening to screaming kids all day.  
“Gfiebl vfiolahtn jjsal.”  
Clara stopped and stared at him. His voice hadn't changed, it was definitely her Doctor's voice but what he said made no sense at all.  
“Doctor, what is going on?” she laughed, that tiny, insecure laugh she always did when she was confused and not quite sure what was happening around her.  
“Gfiebl vfiolahtn _jjsal_!” he said and flapped his arms around helplessly. Something was wrong, Clara just didn't know what.  
She folded her arms in front of her chest and looked at him for a long moment. The Doctor only stared back, still appearing to be slightly helpless. She also glanced around the ship but it seemed to be normal otherwise.  
“Can you understand what _I'm_ saying?” Clara asked him because it seemed the next obvious move. If he sounded like a madman to her, maybe it was the other way around. Yet the Doctor never replied, only looked at her. Well, that settled it then.

Not knowing what else to do Clara walked back towards the chair and retrieved her notebook and pen from her bag before she handed it to the Doctor. If he couldn't talk properly, then he would have to write it down instead. Clara looked at him while signing for him to write down what was going on before she handed both notebook and pen to the Time Lord.  
He took it from her eagerly and instantly started scribbling but as soon as Clara glanced over his shoulder she realized that it was an utterly pointless idea. He wasn't _writing_. He was drawing those Gallifreyan circle signs that were all over the space ship as well.  
Clara groaned in annoyance. “I can't read your weird Gallifreyan symbols, why don't you-”  
She broke off when it was beginning to dawn on her. Clara couldn't understand the Doctor. The Doctor couldn't understand Clara. The TARDIS wasn't translating the Gallifreyan signs he was writing down. There was only one possible explanation for this mess: the translation circuit was broken. And apparently the Doctor didn't speak a single word of the English language.  
Clara grabbed the Doctor by the arms and turned him so he looked right at her before she starting to sign. She made a flapping move with her thumb and the rest of her fingers to indicate talking, then pointed towards the console before she pretended to snap an imaginary something in two. _Is the TARDIS translation circuit broken?_ The Doctor started nodding frantically. Okay, so she was right.   
Clara glared at him. “2000 years of travelling to Earth and you don't speak a single word of English?” she asked him, her voice showing how unimpressed she was even though the Doctor couldn't make out what she was so disappointed about.   
The Doctor pointed at himself, then to the floor before he made a couple of weird moves with his hands. It took Clara a moment to understand what he was trying to tell her.   
“Oh, you'll try to fix the circuit,” Clara realized before she gave him two thumbs up, “Yeah, you do that. I'll go and. . . make some tea.”  
She held an imaginary tea cup and pretended to take a sip while the Doctor looked at her approvingly before he made his way downstairs to where he was usually tinkering with his time machine.   
Clara walked off in the direction of the kitchen and once she had opened the cupboard she was quickly reminded of how big a problem the broken translation circuit really proved to be. All the labels on all the boxes were written in Gallifreyan symbols. Not knowing what else to do she drew the first from out of the cupboard and sniffed.  
“Ew!” Clara exclaimed and quickly held the box away from her nose. She had no idea what it was but it was most certainly not tea. The second box was filled with coffee beans and finally, when she opened the third, she was greeted by the sight of teabags. 

Two mugs of tea in her hand Clara made her way back and found the Doctor lying under the TARDIS engines like under car, tinkering with his complicated time machine. She cleared her throat, causing him to look up before Clara gave him a warm smile and handed him one of the mugs.  
“How's it going?” she asked nodding towards the machine.  
The Doctor shrugged in reply. “Hiegsleebf.”  
“Mh, not so well, I see.”  
As she sank down to the floor next to him the Doctor stared at her in confusion, obviously at a loss as to what he was supposed to to now and all of a sudden Clara couldn't hold it back any longer. She started to laugh. The entire situation seemed ridiculous to her. She had known the Doctor for so many years now and suddenly they failed to communicate thanks to a broken part of the TARDIS. Then, after a moment, the Doctor started laughing, too. They sat there for a long while, just smiling and sipping their tea in silence and Clara was starting to get used to the situation. It wasn't all too bad and the Doctor would eventually fix it. In the meantime they would just have to communicate by flapping their arms around, which looked more than just a little funny on her favourite stick insect.  
“I love you, you know that?” Clara asked, still smiling. She had felt that for him for a very long time now but she would never have said it if it hadn't been for their communication failure. The Doctor wouldn't appreciate her saying it, even though he probably knew. Just like she knew what he felt for her in his Time Lord hearts.  
Then suddenly the Doctor didn't seem so confused anymore as his eyes widened. No. He couldn't speak English. Surely he hadn't understood _that_?  
“Hae baoelzy tyme,” he replied hesitantly before he cleared his throat and stared down at his own feet.  
Clara's heart was hammering inside her chest as she somehow understood the meaning of his words. Not thinking about it any further Clara leaned forward until their lips carefully touched. She was half expecting the Doctor to turn away, to jump up, run and hide somewhere inside his space ship but to her surprise he didn't do any of these things. Instead he parted his lips for her and the little peck soon turned into a full blown kiss. Well, at least they had found a way to communicate that worked a lot better without talking.


End file.
